Trump orders the Pentagon to help house migrant families

TRUMP ORDERS THE PENTAGON TO HELP HOUSE MIGRANT FAMILIES: President Donald Trump Wednesday ordered Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to provide facilities and care for migrants as part of the president’s move to stop separating families crossing the U.S. border with Mexico.

Story Continued Below

Trump’s executive order directs Mattis to “take all legally available measures” to provide any existing facilities available to house and care for migrant families — and build whatever other facilities might be needed.

— ‘WE’LL RESPOND IF REQUESTED,’ Mattis told reporters when asked about reports that the Department of Health and Human Services was eyeing four military bases to house detained migrants.

“We have housed refugees. We have housed people thrown out of their homes by earthquakes and hurricanes,” he said. “We do whatever is in the best interest of the country.”

— ‘I DIDN’T LIKE THE SIGHT,’ Trump said, via POLITICO’s Andrew Restuccia and Lorraine Woellert: “‘I didn’t like the sight or the feeling of families being separated,’ the president told reporters in the Oval Office, flanked by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Vice President Mike Pence. ‘I think anybody with a heart would feel strongly about it. We don’t like to see families separated.’...

“The order came after Trump and his team faced harsh criticism from lawmakers, activists, religious leaders and former first ladies over the separation of children from their parents in custody, which was panned almost universally as cruel and damaging to the kids’ well-being.”

— AND TOP ARMED SERVICES DEMS INSIST ON ACCESS: Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the top Democrats on the Armed Services Committees, have written Mattis to receive assurances Congress can access any DoD sites used to house migrant children to conduct oversight.

“The administration’s ‘zero tolerance policy’ is simply cruel and inhumane," they say in their letter. “Congress must be able to conduct direct oversight to ensure these children are receiving the care they need and deserve while they are in the custody of the federal government.”

The hearing follows comments from Mattis last week at the Naval War College’s graduation ceremony that China “harbored long-term designs to rewrite the existing global order,” writes The Washington Post.

In an oversight hearing last week, military safety officials told the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee that human factors are the main cause behind most military aviation mishaps.

— HASC EYES MILITARY TECH TRANSFERS: HASC hears from national security officials, including Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Griffin, on military technology transfers.

The Trump administration in April issued a national security memorandum outlining a series of policy changes it wants to initiate for selling conventional weapons and drones overseas — all aimed at advancing its “Buy America” agenda.

Both industry and federal departments are weighing in on how to implement the policies.

— TURKEY TO RECEIVE FIRST F-35’S, reports the Washington Examiner: “Turkey will receive its first two F-35 joint strike fighters Thursday in a ceremony in Texas, amid attempts to pause the transfer of the stealthy jets by members of Congress who question whether Ankara remains a reliable ally.

“Members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees are angry that Turkey, a key member of NATO, is buying the S-400 air defense system from Russia, and is also refusing to release American pastor Andrew Brunson from prison...

“But the Pentagon says because the NDAA is not yet law, it will have no effect on the rollout ceremony. Lockheed Martin says the ceremony is a tradition to recognize every U.S. and international customers’ first aircraft.”

— HOUSE DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS AMENDMENTS DUE: Amendments to the fiscal 2019 defense appropriations bill are due this morning. The measure would provide the Pentagon just under $675 billion for the coming fiscal year.

HOUSE APPROPRIATORS APPROVE STATE-FOREIGN OPS BILL, reports our colleague Kaitlyn Burton: “House appropriators on Wednesday approved their 10th fiscal 2019 spending bill in a meeting that was dominated by Democratic criticism of migrant family separations at the Southwest border...

“The bill would provide $16.2 billion for the Department of State and related agencies, $163 million above current spending. Of this, $6.1 billion is for embassy security, on par with fiscal 2018’s allocation. The legislation also contains $9.3 billion for international security assistance, a $239 million hike from current levels.”

And the Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to mark up their version of the bill this morning.

NDAA ENDGAME — INHOFE AGREES WITH JULY TARGET, reports our colleague Connor O’Brien: “Sen. Jim Inhofe said [Wednesday] he agrees with an aggressive House goal to wrap up negotiations on the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act by the end of July.

“House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) predicted a compromise measure could be finalized in July, citing certainty over the defense budget topline, which in previous years has been a point of contention between the House and Senate.”

— TRUMP AND GOP LAWMAKERS GRAPPLE WITH ZTE, writes POLITICO’s John Hendel: “President Donald Trump challenged Republican lawmakers during a meeting Wednesday to come up with a new solution that cracks down on Chinese telecom firm ZTE while preserving Trump’s ability to negotiate with China, attendees told POLITICO.

“The White House provided no specific legislative alternative, said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas). But Cornyn came away with the impression that the administration would be fine with barring ZTE from doing business with the federal government if the firm could continue to operate in the U.S. commercial market...

“The White House meeting marked the administration's latest effort to defuse the ongoing standoff with Congress over ZTE. The Senate on Monday overwhelmingly passed a defense policy bill that would revive a U.S. government ban on the Chinese company. That was a sharp rebuke to Trump, who has sought to keep ZTE in business as part of a broader trade negotiation with China.”

NORTH KOREA LATEST — REMAINS OF 200 TROOPS RETURNED, the president told supporters Wednesday night during a rally in Minnesota, via Reuters: “President Donald Trump said North Korea had returned on Wednesday the remains of 200 U.S. troops missing from the Korean War, although there was no official confirmation of the move from military authorities.

“‘We got back our great fallen heroes, the remains sent back today, already 200 got sent back,’ Trump told a crowd of supporters during a rally in Duluth, Minnesota.

“U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Tuesday that in coming days North Korea would hand over a ‘sizeable number’ of remains to United Nations Command in South Korea, and they would then be transferred to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii.”

“Promoted to commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) last month, Admiral Philip Davidson gave the assurance during his first official visit to Japan for two days of talks with Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera.”

Additionally, Japan plans to suspend evacuation drills it started last year in response to North Korean missile tests, reports The Associated Press.

And the U.S. identifies a North Korean missile test site it says Kim Jong Un has committed to destroy, adds Reuters.

WAR REPORT — RUSSIA AND IRAN ‘HEDGE THEIR BETS’ IN AFGHANISTAN, a senior State Department official told Congress Wednesday, via the Washington Examiner: “Russia and Iran are ‘hedg[ing] their bets’ by backing the Taliban against other terrorists at the expense of Afghanistan’s central government, a senior State Department official testified Wednesday.

“‘We are concerned about countries that are seeking to hedge their bets in Afghanistan, typically by viewing the Taliban as a legitimate force in fighting ISIS-Khorasan,’ Alice Wells, the top diplomat for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.”

But Wells sees cautious optimism since the recent start of a cease-fire in Afghanistan, writes Defense News.

INDUSTRY INTEL — BOEING TO BEGIN DELIVERING KC-46’S IN OCTOBER, reports our colleague Wesley Morgan: “Boeing will start delivering combat-ready KC-46 Pegasus refueling tankers to the Air Force in October, the service announced [Wednesday], with the first 18 planes delivered by April.

“The Air Force and Boeing ‘have reached an agreed joint program schedule to get to the first 18 aircraft deliveries,’ Air Force Undersecretary Matthew Donovan said in a statement.”

SPEED READ

— The White House plans to propose a federal overhaul that would likely transfer the background investigation system to DoD: The Washington Post

— The president eyes a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in July in Europe: Bloomberg

About The Author : Gregory Hellman

Greg Hellman is a defense reporter for POLITICO Pro. He is the author of the Morning Defense newsletter and covers Congress.

Prior to joining POLITICO, Greg worked as a national security analyst for the Government Accountability Office where he focused on defense and counter-ISIS policy. He also worked as a reporter for Bloomberg BNA and Inside Washington Publishers, where he covered worker-safety policy.

Greg grew up outside Milwaukee, Wis. He graduated from Boston University in 2008 and American University in 2013.